Rudolph Ashworth "Rudy" Howell

Rudolph Ashworth "Rudy" Howell, 87, Smithfield businessman, civic leader and benefactor of Johnston Community College, died Friday, August 18, after a period of declining health. He was the son of the late Henry Paul and Louise Porter Howell of Smithfield.
Mr. Howell was born in Severn, NC on April 14, 1919, and moved with his parents to Smithfield in 1924. His father owned and operated the Victory Theatre in downtown Smithfield as well as movie houses in several other Eastern North Carolina towns. The Howells ran a family business, and even as a boy of 7, Rudy Howell sold peanuts and popcorn in the Victory, where silent films were shown. By age 11 he was operating the equipment for some of the earliest "talking pictures." In 1935 H. P. Howell opened a new 800-seat theatre in Smithfield, the Howell, on the corner of Third and Johnston Street opposite the Victory. By the time he was 15, Rudy Howell had become a young entrepreneur, operating the Theatre Soda Shop adjacent to the Howell Theatre. He recalled "cooking chickens at night to make chicken salad for sandwiches" to be sold there. When he was 16 he purchased his first real estate and built his first house, a small log home at Holt Lake near Smithfield.
In 1935, when he was 14, Rudy Howell was scheduled to receive his Eagle Scout badge from President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the first National Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington, D.C., but the event was cancelled because of a polio epidemic that summer. Mr. Howell maintained an interest in scouting, camping and the out-of-doors throughout his life, serving in numerous leadership capacities and being named "Distinguished Citizen of 1997" by the Neusiok Council of the Boy Scouts of America. During the Great Depression the Howell family kept their theatres open and provided entertainment for people whose lives were otherwise drab. At one point H.P. Howell hired buses to bring movie-goers who lacked transportation to his theatres, and patrons looked forward to promotions that featured cash jackpots and giveaways such as china and glassware. Rudolph Howell graduated from Smithfield High School in 1936 and from the University of North Carolina with a degree in economics in 1940. He was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity, and served in both the U.S. Navy and the Army during World War II.
During the early 1940s, theatres owned by the Howell family presented patriotic road shows, collected many thousands of pounds of scrap metal for the war effort, and showed photos of local members of the armed forces on their movie screens.
Rudolph Howell lived in Selma between 1940 and 1955 and pursued his lifelong interests in farming, cattle, soil conservation and wildlife preservation, in addition to numerous business ventures. In 1949 the Howell family opened the 700-seat Rudy Theatre in Selma as well as the legendary 400-car County Drive-In on Highway 301 between Smithfield and Selma. In its heyday, County Drive-In attracted crowds that blocked the traffic in both directions. The Rudy Theatre is now the site of American Music Jubilee, but the drive-in burned in 1990. Mr. Howell became mayor, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, president of the Kiwanis Club, judge of municipal court and "Citizen of the Year" during the years he lived in Selma. He was also chairman of the Johnston County unit of the American Red Cross. After returning to Smithfield in 1955, Mr. Howell served as board president of the five-county Neuse River Soil Conservation District and was active in planning the original layout of Research Triangle Park. He organized the Johnston County Chapter of Quail Unlimited and served as its president. From 1965 until 1989 he was chairman of Multi-Cinema Theatres, Inc., which operated a chain of 72 theaters in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
In 1993 Mr. Howell and his wife Nell gave 2,850 acres of forest land in the Bentonville area of Johnston County to Johnston Community College in Smithfield. Their gift was the largest ever made to a North Carolina community college in both monetary value and acreage. The Rudolph Howell and Son Environmental Learning Center (Howell Woods) is now the site of a college- operated nature preserve and learning center that is managed for the benefit of wildlife, educational opportunities and low impact outdoor recreation. Funds gained from the sale of timber on the land have provided scholarships for many JCC students.
In 1994 Nell and Rudolph Howell were honored by the Johnston Community College Foundation at an appreciation dinner where former Governor Bob Scott, president of the North Carolina Community College System, was the speaker. Rudolph Howell was also generous to a number of his favorite causes, including Day-by-Day Treatment Center in Selma, Boy Scouts of America, and First Baptist Church in Smithfield. He was president and owner of Clinton Theatres Inc., with movie houses in Clinton, Durham and Ahoskie until 1999, when he turned 80. His involvement with the Howell Theatre, the flagship of the family business, also ended in 1999, but the 71-year-old movie house remains a Smithfield landmark that is still in operation. He was involved in farming operations and real estate until his health began to fail.
Mr. Howell was a member of the Masonic Order, a former president of the Smithfield Kiwanis Club, a director of Day-by-Day Treatment Center, a Trustee of Johnston Community College, and a devoted member of Smithfield's First Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife, Nell Matthews Howell; a daughter, Marie Howell Crum; two stepdaughters, Chrystal Parashkevovia and Hope Panara; and by six grandchildren.
He was predeceased by a son, Rudolph Howell, Jr., and by a sister, Carolyn Howell Brink Bradshaw.
Funeral services for Rudolph Howell will be held at First Baptist Church in Smithfield on Sunday, August 20 at 2:00 p.m., with Lee Colbert, pastor, officiating.
The family will receive friends in the Fellowship Hall of the church immediately following the service. Interment will be at Sunset Memorial Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church, 202 S. Fourth Street in Smithfield or to Johnston Community College, Box 2350, Smithfield, NC 27577.